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Swanage Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Rumpole, Oct 10, 2012.

  1. 45076

    45076 Member

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    If you were driving on the A359 it certainly would be "an alternative way" As it runs from Yeovil to Frome in Somerset. :)
     
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  2. Enterprise

    Enterprise Part of the furniture

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    I know I am a lunatic but I travelled with SWMBO ( not a lunatic and not a rail enthusiast) from Pulborough to Swanage, changing at Wareham and we both enjoyed it. As in "I like that diesel, is it the same one from Barrow to Carlisle?". "Yes, dear".
     
  3. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    A351, then. I was only one digit out. My excuse is that I'm more used to roads that start with a 1 or a 6.:)
     
  4. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

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    A359, Certificate of Entitlement to Supplementary Benefit, always raises a titter along with the A360 & A363, for anyone who dealt with Housing Benefit before 1988

    But like the form, the road is hellish, once taken never again!

    I have known better cart tracks
     
  5. daveb

    daveb Member

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    IIRC running through to Norden was a condition of opening the extension from Harmans Cross, as the council wouldn't allow Corfe Castle to be the terminus. Probably not unreasonable, although it did cause the railway some financial issues at the time.

    Unfortunately the roundabout accessing Norden park and ride from the A351 is still pretty close to Corfe Castle, and it's not unusual for there to be traffic backed up at least half way to Wareham. If you're coming from the east, you first have the continuing "fun" of the A351 from the junction with the A35 at Lytchett Minster. So, in theory there should be public transport potential from further afield than Norden, if it is practical and can be run without losing money.
     
  6. Standard by 4

    Standard by 4 New Member

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    Why better use should be made of Holton Health station, with good access off the A35 and the potential of a park and ride in Admiralty Park.
     
  7. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    Sorry I am somewhat confused by your comment.
    Do you mean a SR Wareham service should be extended to run to Holton Heath? If so there is no crossover there so what would be gained. Otherwise the only place you could get to would be Wareham or anywhere else on the SWR Weymouth line.
    How does a park and ride there help people to catch a train at Norden? Or am I missing something obvious?
     
  8. DragonHandler

    DragonHandler Well-Known Member

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    But Holton Heath station is nowhere near the Swanage Railway. They'd have to extend the Wareham shuttle to reach it, which could cause problems with finding a path for it among SWR's services and there doesn't appear to be a crossover at the station, so how would the shuttle return without working wrong line. Admiralty Park is quite a way from the station too.
     
  9. Standard by 4

    Standard by 4 New Member

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    If you are travelling from the east to Swanage in the Summer, after leaving the A35 roundabout, the A351 through Sandford can be a nightmare for traffic, just as bad as Corfe. Once past this bottleneck, as Wareham has very little station car parking you have no choice but to push on to Norden for parking and potentially join the traffic backing up from Corfe. Agree there is no rail cross over at Holton Heath but to me it has a lot more potential and space to relieve traffic congestion than Wareham and the two stations are only 2 miles apart
     
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  10. Mogul

    Mogul Member

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    From the local authority standpoint the proposition is simple. How do you build the local economy of the area without building extra roads / causing traffic chaos? Answer - use the railway. Hence their grant to support the permanent signaled mainline connection.
    @Bean-counter is correct and in this case the 'Halcrow Report is often referenced. Although carried out a few years ago now IIRC it forecast passenger demand growing to 6 figure quantities. SWR probably also have more skill and experience in demand forecasting and route development than many of us sitting behind keyboards here and they thought it worth trying the service in 2018 and found the results encouraging enough to come back for more in 2019.

    That there is a demand of some sort there I dont doubt. What is less clear is is the SR able to successfully tap in to that and manage the sometimes conflicting demands from the 'Heritage service' and the 'Community service'. This is what the current trials will begin to unfold.
    Have to agree with this. Getting through Sandford to get to wareham is as big a problem if not bigger traffic wise than the Wareham to Swanage stretch. I've often thought that a park and ride to Corfe and Swanage from Holton Heath could be useful and popular. As others have pointed out however you would probably need to run on to Poole to reverse. For a regular service you would need a considerable amount of staff and rolling stock. The distance on the mainline is greater than the distance on the branch so not sure who would be best placed to operate the service and what this would mean for the 'Heritage' service.
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2019
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  11. twr12

    twr12 Well-Known Member

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    RMT strike action on at least one of the SWR Corfe Castle Saturdays
     
  12. 5914

    5914 New Member

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    When the initial scoping was being done for Dorset Coast Resignalling the initial proposal from DCC was to seek a solution to congestion through Sandford (which, unlike Wareham, does not have a bypass). In this context a very short exercise was done to see whether either the timetable could reasonably 'cylce' between Poole and Swanage (inculding a stop at Holton Heath) or the SEUs required for turnback at Wareham could instead be better utilised at Holton Heath. However, this was a very short exercise as its effect was to double the costs of the service by requiring another set in use to maintain anything like a reasonable frequency. Instead what was done was done and the demand forecasts rerun for Wareham only on the basis of transfer from public transport (from both directions on the mainline)

    In this case I think the prejudice against a mainline connection betrays the predisposition of the poster, rather than any ground in reality from funders. The situation is that the Swanage Railway would not exist if it were not for the support of local authorities at critical times, and their interest was not motivated by dewy-eyed WIBN, but by the social, environmental and economic realities of transport in a rural area with an overcrowded road corridor. The WIBN in this case is of a local authority looking for a solution to congestion that means any local dreads having to travel 'with the flow' of tourist traffic during the season unless the y really have to, and the damage that does to the local economy. (Indeed, without that justification local authority support would have meant no extension to Corfe, and possibly no railway at all - ultimately Dorset Council own the freehold of the infrastructure, and it is held by way of lease on certain conditions). This is why the proposals (to my knowledge at least - though my involvement is now a little distant) have never sought to meet a 364 day a year need, but rather to relieve the congestion of peak flows in the peak season. This is exactly what was funded, what was included in the spec for infrastructure, and (despite the hicoughs) is what is being delivered. In my personal opinion, the best way for heritage and public transport needs (using not so non-heritage stock) to coexist is to keep them under the control of SR.
     
  13. Daddsie71b

    Daddsie71b Member Friend

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    It is not bi directionally signalled and would reduce frequency of service to Corfe. The Swanage railway is good at what it does, provide heritage services from Norden to Swanage. Let the big boys run the service to feed this and Swanrail can just make money from track access charges.
     
  14. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    At the time of reopening of the SR, indeed before it was closed by B.R. I had relatives living in Swanage. One in particularly was acquainted with every nook of Purbeck by virtue of her job as a midwife. The railway was next to no use to the scattered rural dwellers or to inhabitants of Corfe or Swanage wishing to go to Wareham because of the poor location of the station at the latter town. Similarly, holiday visitors come from far and wide and are unlikely to relish umpteen changes of train before the reach the Swanage branch. However, a single change to a park and ride service, happily has proved acceptable.

    Visitor attraction railways have been inflicted by wishful thinking for about as long as they have existed. The Border Union Railway project for the Waverley route was going to make a fortune by transporting cabbages I recall! It seems to be a lesson that every generation of enthusiasts (together with some local authorities) has to learn painfully all over again again that the general public has a different mindset from theirs.
     
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  15. Adam-Box

    Adam-Box Member

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    1. Wareham station isn’t that far from the town, it’s 15 minutes at most from the Quay, but most people wouldn’t be going that far anyway. Unless you have mobility issues the distance isn’t a problem, a no one from the area has ever complained to me about where it is.

    2. The second part of this post feels like the epitome of the “What do experts know” attitude that has plagued the country for the last few years. I don’t think that the cash strapped Dorset Council would contribute millions to resignalling the connection to the branch at Worgret without some solid evidence that it would work. Councils don’t hand out 7 figure sums because they think, wouldn’t it be nice to... As far as I’m aware the aim of the connection isn’t to get people to park somewhere and then get the train into Swanage, it’s to allow them to use Public Transport all the way. SWR clearly decided that their services to Corfe Castle are worth running again this year, even though the Swanage Railway won’t let them run beyond Corfe.
     
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  16. 2392

    2392 Well-Known Member

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    Indeed the NYMR received £300,000 from North Yorkshire County Councils' transport budget. On account of the Moors generating £30,000,000 +/- in the Whitby/Scarborough/National Park area. So I would think that's the angle Dorset County Council will be taking when they made their grant. As with the case of the NYMR where the £300k [whilst a large sum of money] was decidedly small change in the scheme of things, when you look at the bigger picture of a £30m return to the local economy......
     
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  17. oliversbest

    oliversbest Member

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    From my vantage point nr Niagara Falls Canada to watch SWR pull out from Corfe on a beautiful sunny day,following the departure of a steam service to Swanage seems to be somewhere near the aspirations of the SR pioneers. Who could now envisage the routing of a by pass on the route of the railway? that was a distinct possibility at one time! I have to agree with Adam Box that Wareham Station is not an excessive walk from the town itself.in fact you pass quite a lot of history on the way including the beautiful old church of St Martin that has the effigy of Lawrence of Arabia;at one time you had to obtain the keys at a Gents outfitters across the road! The foresight(intended or otherwise) of the DCC is paying dividends in many ways for Purbeck
     
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  18. DcB

    DcB Well-Known Member

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    SWR have had Children ride free offers this week and looks like there will be other offers.
    Corfe castle and the mining museum will be a good leisure destination, with steam train rides to Swanage.
    The union has taken a diiferent tact and will target the 5 days of Ascot with a srike. But means the June 22nd service to Corfe might be affected.
     
  19. paulhitch

    paulhitch Guest

    Who says anything about politicians being "experts"?
     
  20. Romsey

    Romsey Part of the furniture

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    "Ex" as in former
    "Spirt" as in drip under pressure ?

    Cheers, Neil
     

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